CS CS Innovation & Change Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An innovation pipeline in strategic management typically distinguishes between horizon 1, horizon 2, and horizon 3 initiatives based on:
- Geographic expansion stages
- Time horizons and degrees of transformational change (Correct answer)
- Three levels of management hierarchy
- Three budget approval tiers
Correct answer: Time horizons and degrees of transformational change
McKinsey's Three Horizons framework categorizes initiatives from sustaining current business (H1) through emerging opportunities (H2) to transformational bets (H3).
Question 2: Resistance to organizational change most commonly originates from employees':​
- Desire for higher compensation
- Fear of the unknown and perceived loss of control or status (Correct answer)
- Preference for remote work
- Dissatisfaction with office facilities
Correct answer: Fear of the unknown and perceived loss of control or status
Research consistently shows that uncertainty about future roles, perceived threats to status, and lack of involvement in the change process drive most employee resistance.
Question 3: Open innovation, as described by Henry Chesbrough, encourages firms to:
- Share all trade secrets publicly
- Leverage external ideas and paths to market alongside internal R&D (Correct answer)
- Eliminate internal research departments
- Focus exclusively on organic growth
Correct answer: Leverage external ideas and paths to market alongside internal R&D
Open innovation combines internal and external sources of knowledge — customers, startups, universities — to accelerate and enrich the innovation process.
Question 4: A change readiness assessment helps strategists by:
- Approving budgets for change projects
- Evaluating an organization's cultural and operational capacity to absorb and sustain change (Correct answer)
- Selecting software for project management
- Measuring customer satisfaction
Correct answer: Evaluating an organization's cultural and operational capacity to absorb and sustain change
Change readiness assessments identify gaps in leadership commitment, employee capability, and structural enablers before a change initiative is launched.
Question 5: The minimum viable product (MVP) concept in innovation strategy is intended to:
- Produce the cheapest possible version of a product
- Validate strategic assumptions with real customers using the least investment necessary (Correct answer)
- Meet minimum regulatory quality standards
- Replace full product development cycles permanently
Correct answer: Validate strategic assumptions with real customers using the least investment necessary
MVPs test the most critical hypotheses about customer value with minimal resources, enabling evidence-based iteration rather than large upfront bets.
Question 6: Incremental innovation differs from radical innovation primarily in that incremental innovation:
- Is always more profitable
- Improves existing products or processes without fundamentally altering the underlying technology or business model (Correct answer)
- Requires less financial investment in all cases
- Is performed only by startups
Correct answer: Improves existing products or processes without fundamentally altering the underlying technology or business model
Incremental innovation builds on existing platforms and customer relationships, while radical innovation creates fundamentally new value through breakthrough ideas.
CS CS Innovation & Change Management 2
An innovation pipeline in strategic management typically distinguishes between horizon 1, horizon 2, and horizon 3 initiatives based on: